PopSci Augments Reality

Got a copy of our July issue? Hold it up to your screen

By Mark Jannot, Editor-in-Chief

June 16, 2009

Imagination

Today the July issue of Popular Science -- with a cover package on the future of energy -- officially hits newsstands, and with its release we unveil an extremely cool first-ever for the magazine biz: The first interactive 3-D "augmented reality" magazine cover.

How does it work? Just head over to popsci.com/imagination, launch the viewer window, and hold the cover of the magazine up to your computer's webcam -- you'll see a 3-D landscape dotted with wind turbines pop off the page; by blowing into your computer's microphone, you can even make the turbines spin faster.

Don't have a copy of the magazine? Go buy one! (Or, OK, you can also download and print a PDF from the augmented reality page.) Don't have a webcam? Can't help you there -- but surely you know someone who does.

Why did we do this? Because it's amazing to see -- and we thought our readers would appreciate getting a chance to check it out. Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.